HEAT FOR HOTBEDS 79 



to have a pit beneath the frame in which the ma- 

 nure is placed. If the bed is to be started in 

 midwinter or very early in the spring, it is ad- 

 visable to make this pit in the fall and to fill it 

 with straw or other litter to prevent the earth 

 from freezing deep. When it is time to make the 

 bed, the litter is thrown out, and the ground is 

 warm and ready to receive the fermenting ma- 

 nure. The pit should be a foot wider upon either 



83. Hotbed with manure on top of the ground. 



side than the width of the frame. Fig. 84 is a 

 cross -section of such a hotbed pit. Upon the 

 ground a layer of an inch or two of any coarse 

 material is placed to keep the manure off the cold 

 earth. Upon this, from twelve to thirty inches 

 of manure is placed. Above the manure is a thin 

 layer of leaf -mold or some porous material, which 

 will serve as a distributor of the heat, and above 

 this is four or five inches of soft garden loam, in 

 which the plants are to be grown. 



